56-year-old woman jumps to death

Faced with a financial crisis, mother of 21-yr-old committed suicide in Amboli

A 56-year-old woman ended her life by jumping off from a seven-storey building at Amboli in Andheri (West) last morning. The deceased, identified as Manjula Shah, had gone into depression over a prolonged financial crisis which she found difficult to handle, said Amboli police officials.

Tragic end: Manjula Shah committed suicide as she could not make ends meet

Manjula lived with her 21-year-old daughter in a chawl near Savera apartments in Amboli, and had deposited her life's earning of Rs 8 lakh in Memon Cooperative Bank.

She and her daughter lived on the interest she derived from the deposit, said police officials. But in 2009, the bank faced a moratorium and depositors were barred from withdrawing more than Rs 1,000 from their savings and current account, pursuant to RBI guidelines.

"This brought a difficult time in Manjula's life in terms of finances. She went into a depression. The condition worsened, as she was the sole breadwinner in the family," said a police officer, requesting anonymity. "So early on Sunday morning, when her daughter was asleep, she strolled into Savera building, went to the terrace, and hurled herself from the top," added the officer.

"Preliminary investigations do not show any signs of struggle or any form of injuries on her body. As such, one can rule out the possibility of murder," said the officer.

"But we will come to a conclusion only after the postmortem report is out."